Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Team owner wants to get the lead out

Friday, Sept. 19, 1997 | 10:57 a.m.

If Tom Milner is looking for a slogan for his Prototype Technology Group racing team, he might consider "No good deed goes unpunished."

It may seem cynical, but it fits what has happened to the owner of the three BMW M3s that Milner fields in Professional SportsCar Racing's Exxon Supreme GT series.

Because of the BMWs' success this season, winning six of the seven races, Professional SportsCar Racing has mandated that the BMWs carry an extra 100 pounds after their most recent win at Canada's Mosport Park. The total weight added to the BMWs since the start of the season is now close to 350 pounds.

"They gave us a lead trophy -- a 300-pound trophy," said PTG team driver Boris Said. "It's a big disadvantage. They're kind of penalizing us because we have the most professional team, we have the best drivers and we do have the best cars."

Milner says his team is being singled out because of its hard work in developing the BMWs, which will run Saturday night in the SportsCar Grand Prix at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

"I don't like (the weight penalties) but in some way I understand that ... because if you have one driver, one team, winning all the races, then it's not interesting anymore," Milner said.

"The thing that I am unhappy about is that a few years ago, when we were not competitive, nobody cared. We have made the cars better over the period of a year and a half. I am a little unhappy with the way it's done because BMW is being singled out because of the effort that we have made and they are artificially trying to slow us down."

Said, who also drives in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series for car owner Ernie Irvan, said the added weight makes a noticeable difference in the car's performance.

"The more weight you add, the first thing the driver notices is the acceleration is a little less," Said said. "Weight and horsepower are the same thing so you're taking away horsepower, basically.

"I honestly haven't noticed it handling any worse, I think the handling is still there. I think if you added 400 pounds, the car handles so good it's hard to believe it would get really bad, but where you notice it is under braking and acceleration."

Milner said Professional SportsCar Racing would be better served by attempting to get other other manufacturers to catch up to BMW rather than slowing down the German car maker.

"A year and a half ago, we worked very hard to catch up with the competition and make our cars fast," Milner said. "I would think that the sanctioning body would do better by going to all the other teams and (ask them) what do you need to do to make you go faster?

"In the end, what it comes down to is when you're at the top, everybody is trying to pick away at you. I like the competition and I think the quality of the team comes out when you have to fight adversity. We're fighting the adversity by their penalizing us for going too fast, for doing our job too well."

Although BMW leads the team and manufacturer's points standings, PTG driver Bill Auberlen trails Porsche driver David Murry by three points going into Saturday night's race.

"We need to win, we need to get back in the lead in the (drivers) championship again," Auberlen said. "We just had some flukes, some weird things happen to my car. My car had a wheel bearing failure the last race and a drive shaft before that -- the could have been the (extra) weight, also.

"It's time to get rid of the bad luck and start showing the strength of the team. As we get into the second half of the season, we need to stretch our legs and show our resources."

* BACKMARKERS: The 10th annual Silver State Classic Challenge, a 90-mile open-road race from Lund to Hiko on public highway 318, will get under way at 8 a.m. Sunday. The race will begin at mile post WP No. 9, south of Lund. ... Brian Jones of Henderson won both of his races en route to capturing the overall title in the 125cc Novice class at the Las Vegas Motocross Club's most recent event. The LVMC will stage another race Sunday at Las Vegas Speedway's motocross track. Practice begins at 9 a.m. and racing gets under way at 10 a.m. ... NASCAR driver Derrick Cope, who lost his ride for 1998 when team owner Nelson Bowers hired Ernie Irvan to drive the Skittles-sponsored Pontiac, has been hired by Bahari Racing to drive the team's Pontiac for the next three seasons. ... Jeff Gordon can become the first driver in NASCAR history to surpass the $5 million mark in single-season earnings if he captures the Winston Cup championship. Gordon leads Mark Martin by 139 points in the standings with seven races remaining. The championship is worth $1.5 million this year. ... In a recent open testing session at the new California Speedway in Fontana, CART driver Mauricio Gugelmin turned in a blistering 234-mph lap on the two-mile oval. The CART series makes its first trip to the Roger Penske-owned speedway next Sunday with the season-ending Marlboro 500. ... Two-time Indy 500 winner Arie Luyendyk has re-signed with Treadway Racing for the 1998 IRL season. Treadway Racing will run part of its operation out of Las Vegas next season.